Serra edges rival St. Francis for another Central Coast Section crown

If it’s hard to beat a good rival team twice in a season, try four times in two years.

That’s what Serra’s football team did Saturday with a thrilling 31-30 victory over St. Francis in the Central Coast Section Division 2 Open championship at Independence High in San Jose.

Down 31-17 heading into the fourth quarter, third-seeded St. Francis (9-4) closed to within a touchdown on a 9-yard run by Darrell Page with 10:01 to play.

The Lancers got the ball back with 3:20 left near midfield. Quarterback Reed Vettel completed a 19-yard touchdown to Evan Williams with 1:26 left to close to 31-30. They went for a two-point conversion, but failed.

Serra, the top seed, recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock to win its second straight title and fourth since 2011.

Serra junior quarterback Luke Bottari completed three first-half touchdown passes — two to Andres Atkins for 26 and 16 yards — and one to Isiah Kendrick for 83 yards.

St. Francis, with Terra Nova-Pacifica’s loss in the Division 3 final Saturday, will move on to the CIF State Regional playoffs.

Division 3 Open

Half Moon Bay 41, Terra Nova-Pacifica 9: Half Moon Bay won its third straight section crown with an impressive championship win at Sequoia High School. Half Moon Bay will advance to its first NorCal regional.

Gavin Tomberlin completed touchdown passes of 67 yards to Dylan Williams and 17 yards to Hayden Von Almen, and the senior quarterback rushed for a touchdown for Half Moon Bay (13-0), which beat Terra Nova 45-7 earlier in the season.

No. 1 Liberty-Brentwood 37, No. 2 Freedom-Oakley 0: Tyrell Sturges-Cofer carried the ball 28 times for 244 yards and three touchdowns as the Lions won their first NCS title by shutting out their fiercest rival at Heritage High in Brentwood.

Liberty (11-2) controlled both sides of the ball from the start. Even an extended halftime because of a lighting delay couldn’t derail the Lions’ efforts.

Liberty took a 16-0 lead into halftime after scoring on all three of its possessions in the second quarter. Johan Diaz’s 32-yard field goal opened the scoring, and the Lions added a 6-yard touchdown run by Sturges-Cofer and a 33-yard scoring pass from Jay Butterfield to Simone Vaki.

Liberty then opened the second half with a 13-play drive capped by a 9-yard run by Sturges-Cofer, and the rout was on.

Freedom (9-3), which lost to Liberty 37-35 during the regular season, didn’t notch a first down until the 2:32 mark of the second quarter. The Falcons managed just 85 yards of total offense in the game.

Division 4

Fortuna 44, Hercules 0: At McKinleyville, fourth-seeded Fortuna (12-2) raced to a 31-0 halftime lead en route to its third NCS championship and first since 2000. Seventh-seeded Hercules, after its first NCS crown, finished 11-3.

Division 5

St. Patrick-St. Vincent-Vallejo 28, Middletown 0: A week after allowing 44 points, the Bruins’ defense dominated and SPSV rolled to its second consecutive NCS championship, winning at Alhambra High in Martinez.

The defending state 6-A champions intercepted four passes — the last of which junior Maliq Ivy returned 83 yards for a touchdown in the final minute as Middletown (10-2) tried to avoid the shutout.

SPSV (11-1) led from the opening kick, which junior Murvin Kenion returned 81 yards for a touchdown. Bruins senior running back Marshel Martin, coming off back-to-back 200-yard rushing games, was held to 71 yards on 15 carries. Junior quarterback Akil Edwards completed 10 of 15 passes for 145 yards and ran for 94 yards and a touchdown.